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President Bush Hammering Out Details of a New Strategy

Aired January 08, 2007 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

For the next three hours, watch events as they come into THE NEWSROOM live on this Monday, the 8th day of January.

Here's what's on the rundown.

President Bush set for a midweek reveal -- his new Iraq War strategy. Sources telling CNN it means 20,000 or more new troops.

And a billion dollar jobs package.

HARRIS: A weekend avalanche today. Hurricane like winds driving dozens of motorists into snow banks. They're stuck in Colorado.

COLLINS: Electronics extravaganza -- itsy bitsy screens, super sized screens -- make up your mind.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: Consumer Electronics Show in THE NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: At the top this morning, the fight for Iraq and the struggle for a new direction. President Bush is finishing work on a new approach to the war. Sources tell CNN he wants to send in at least 20,000 more U.S. troops. Details expected in a prime time speech.

The latest now from CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush hasn't announced his retooled Iraq plan yet, but Democratic leaders are already warning they could use the power of the purse to hold the president accountable if he decides to increase the number of U.S. forces in Baghdad.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER ELECT: If the president wants to expand the mission, that's a conversation he has to have with the Congress of the United States. But there's not a carte blanche and a blank check to him to do whatever he wishes there.

QUIJANO: Democrats are seeking to cast a surge as an escalation of the unpopular Iraq War. But a senior Bush administration official says the White House views a potential surge as part of a broader political and economic strategy, a sentiment meant to answer concerns expressed by some skeptical fellow Republicans.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY WHIP: I want a plan. I want to know how this surge will occur, what will be the numbers, what will they do, what do they hope to achieve?

QUIJANO: Adding to the debate, President Bush's decision to change military leadership in Iraq. Some Democrats charge the president is replacing his generals there, John Abizaid and George Casey, because they disagree with him on a troop surge.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Looking at it from my perspective, it looks like the president went shopping for a general who agreed with him.

QUIJANO: The White House calls that inaccurate.

Some Republicans agree, saying Lieutenant General David Petraeus is the right man to lead in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: General Petraeus represents the best hope of this country to start over. He believes that a surge in troops will be effective and necessary when co-joined with political realignment and new efforts by the Iraqi government.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS: Elaine Quijano joins us from the White House now -- and, Elaine, what is the latest on the timing of the president's address?

QUIJANO: Well, we know from sources who are familiar with the president's deliberations that over the weekend, White House speechwriters worked around the clock, according to these sources, on the president's address on Iraq, and that over the next couple of days, the president is expected to rework it, retool that. And we are expecting the plan to be unveiled midweek -- Wednesday, possibly Thursday; but we're really hearing Wednesday -- in a prime time address to the nation -- Tony.

HARRIS: Our White House correspondent, Elaine Quijano.

Elaine, thank you.

COLLINS: The Iraqi government has a new security strategy of its own. At the heart of it, stopping the bloodbath in Baghdad.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fighting crime in a city of six million people is a daunting task. Cleaning up Baghdad, where more than 100 people are killed on any given day, is a mammoth task.

GEN. NASIER ABADI, IRAQI ARMY: Baghdad is the center of gravity and the battle will have to be won.

CHILCOTE: The new plan -- cordon off the city and each of its neighborhoods. No one gets in or out unchecked. Then, move in more Iraqi and American troops.

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: But we're going to be -- clean it, hold it and inject cash in it to stimulate the local economy in that particular neighborhood and to generate jobs and to attract young people to do useful jobs.

CHILCOTE: The U.S. and Iraq have launched crackdowns in Baghdad before, but those operations have failed to stop the killing. This time, Iraq's Shiite-led government is promising to go after both the Sunni based insurgency and Shiite militias, including the Mahdi Army in Sadr City, believed to be responsible for a large number of sectarian killings.

(on camera): You'll actually take on the Mahdi Army?

ABADI: We'll take on Sadr City, clear the area from the insurgents. We have people -- bad people there. It will be cleared.

CHILCOTE: U.S. troops will be fighting alongside Iraqi forces.

AL-RUBAIE: We would like the multinational forces to be everywhere, within the police, within the army and the checkpoints and the patrolling and the combat forces.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COLLINS: Ryan Chilcote joining us now live -- Ryan, how will the roles, then, of the U.S. troops and the Iraqis change, given the new plan for Iraq?

CHILCOTE: Well, I think they're going to change pretty significantly. When it comes to the Iraqis, I think you're going to see the Iraqis moving from a defensive posture here in the Iraqi capital, where they're mostly manning checkpoints and patrolling, to going into these neighborhoods and seeking out the insurgents.

Also, a big change for the Iraqis will be that they're going to be working together, the army and the police working side-by-side as opposed to as separate units in different parts of the city.

Finally, they're going to be going after these -- at least the government says they will be going after these Shia militias, which the government has been reluctant to send its troops after before.

As for the U.S. troops, also a big change. I think this really means that we're going to have U.S. troops on the streets of Baghdad in a way that they haven't been before, working together right there with the Iraqis to try and make them more effective in this crackdown. And, also, in a little bit of a policing role, policing Iraq's police, if you will, making sure that they keep to the plan and that they're going after all the insurgents, regardless of their sectarian strife, if you will -- Heidi.

COLLINS: What are sources there telling you, Ryan, about how quickly the plan can be actually implemented?

CHILCOTE: What I've heard is that this is not something we should expect to happen any time soon, certainly not this week. Remember, it is a very long operation. It will require a huge number of troops, both Iraqi troops that will have to be brought into the Iraqi capital from other places in the country, and U.S. troops. And I think that's where this dovetails with the president's new way forward and the suggestions we have heard that there will be a request or an announcement that there will be a troop surge.

A lot of those troops would be needed for this Baghdad security plan, to work alongside the Iraqis as they go into these neighborhoods -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Ryan Chilcote reporting for us live from Baghdad.

Ryan, thanks for that.

And all week on CNN NEWSROOM, we will be focusing on new strategies for Iraq -- what they're working on in Washington and in the war zone, as well. So tune in right here, beginning at 9:00 Eastern, for the latest on the battle strategies and the costs.

Colorado not getting a break from a parade of big winter storms. And right now strong winds are a serious problem. They're whipping snow across highways in Colorado like a cold hurricane, stranding motorists, as you see there. Reports say more than 100 people were trapped in their cars overnight. Winds approaching 90 miles an hour shut down part of a highway west of Denver and the avalanche threat still a bit concern in Colorado today.

West of Denver, eight people rescued from two cars over the weekend when this avalanche swept the vehicles off the road.

Can you imagine being inside?

HARRIS: Really.

COLLINS: No serious injuries reported, remarkably. And that wall of snow covered parts of U.S. Highway 40 at Berthoud Pass, which leads to a popular ski area up there.

And in Nebraska, 57 counties getting federal aid now after President Bush signed a disaster declaration. One week after the big storm, much of central Nebraska is still without power. The storm damaged the power grid across the entire state.

HARRIS: No deaths, no serious injuries, but lots of damage in Georgia. A suspected tornado slammed into a neighborhood south of Atlanta. Homes were damaged or destroyed, trees blown down.

CNN's Gary Tuchman is surveying the damage in Moreland, Georgia -- and, Gary, clearly the story here no deaths, no serious injuries. And, boy, credit goes to all of the meteorologists locally who did a great job of forecasting the storm and warning folks to run for cover.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Tony, especially because we're not supposed to have tornadoes in the month of January.

HARRIS: Yes.

TUCHMAN: We're supposed to have snow. We're supposed to have ice. This is very unusual. But the local forecasters were all over it yesterday and people were being very careful. Most people evacuated, although the people who lived in this house did not, but fortunately they, too, are OK.

This is evidence of what has happened here, and this is an unbelievable story. Coweta County, Georgia, which is about 40 minutes south of the city of Atlanta, in one weekend, has been hit by two tornadoes; Friday, hit by an F1 tornado. Some damage, but not as much as this one. So far, this has not officially been declared a tornado, but we're about to talk to the man who lives in this house who actually saw it.

But you can see the devastation. This is their life belongings totally destroyed. Five people inside the house when this happened. We're going to jump down here -- be careful we don't slip -- and talk here to Ronnie Crumpton.

Ronnie was inside this house with four members of his family.

Ronnie, first of all, I'm glad you're OK, man.

RONNIE CRUMPTON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Thank you very, very much. It was -- I'm glad we are, too. It was...

TUCHMAN: You were all inside the house, right?

CRUMPTON: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Now, you were telling me you saw a tornado.

CRUMPTON: I was out on the front porch when they said it was coming out of that area over there and saw it come up over the hill back there. I thought it was bouncing, but I now see that it was a hill. And lightening flashed in it and you could see the debris in it. And it was a -- it was a tornado. It was going -- it was moving toward me and going to the right. So it was not a -- it was a tornado.

TUCHMAN: I mean, this does not happen from a winter storm. So we -- it's not official, but we're going to say that a tornado hit your house.

Now, you were inside with four members of your family.

Where were you inside the house to protect yourself?

CRUMPTON: We went to the middle bathroom and that's the only four walls that are still standing in the house, was that ones that were around that room. When the roof lifted off, I could just say it was like you could feel god's hands taking care of us in there. So we were all -- nobody was hurt. All my neighbors are safe, from what I've heard. I've not heard of anybody being -- and that's -- this is just a house. Thank god everybody else is all right.

TUCHMAN: I wonder how scared were you when that roof lifted off.

CRUMPTON: I hate to say this but I wasn't scared. I felt it lift off and I felt my hair go up and -- but I never can -- I can't say that I was ever scared. It was the -- a piece that I've never -- I don't understand it. It's crazy for me to stand here and tell you. I was scared when I saw it over there, but that's because I didn't have my family under me in that room in there.

But once I -- once I was on top of them and in that bathroom, I don't know. I just didn't -- I didn't never felt fear from it.

TUCHMAN: How grateful are you?

CRUMPTON: Oh, god, it's -- I'm glad nobody's hurt. I praise god for it.

TUCHMAN: Thank you for talking with us. We appreciate it.

CRUMPTON: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: OK.

We're glad you're OK.

About 15 or 20 houses in this town or Moreland, Georgia were damaged, none as badly as this. But I can tell you, there are a lot of grateful people here, that nobody was killed and nobody was seriously hurt -- Tony.

HARRIS: Man, that is -- that is super. And the other thing that's super to see is all of those people behind you, Gary, working to help one another out, to help their neighbors out.

That's a great sight. And I see your cameraman sort of widening out so we can get a bigger view of all the people who are on the ground there helping.

Gary Tuchman for us.

Gary, we appreciate it.

Thank you.

Let's get to Chad Myers now in the Severe Weather Center -- and, Chad, you bore witness to this yesterday...

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HARRIS: ... watching the reporting of the local affiliates here. They were all over this storm warning -- people to be careful.

MYERS: Absolutely. No question. The Weather Service knew this. I was watching it from home. I could see the rotation on that super cell right there. We don't look at the line of weather. If there's -- tornadoes are storms, if they line up in a big line, you lost the threat of significant tornadoes.

But when you get a super cell out ahead of the line, that is the storm that we worried about. There it is right there. It's the big dot right there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Meanwhile, a possible breakthrough in stem cell research. Scientists now using a new source to get those building blocks.

But, will it change the ethical and political debate?

That's ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Also, twin infants and the mom who gave them up vowing not to give up the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLISON QUETS, FACES KIDNAPPING CHARGES: I just want to focus on the kids. I am hoping to be able to see them again as soon as possible and praying for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: First, though, she's got to get out of jail. New developments today.

COLLINS: And red flags go up over this 18 wheeler.

And one of the nation's busiest ports gets a security test.

HARRIS: Also, watch television on your cell phone, settle into a digital living room, actually feel the action at play on your videogame. Hang onto your virtual seat. We are going gadget hunting at the Consumer Electronics Show.

You are in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, there's a possible breakthrough in stem cell research. Scientists now reporting encouraging results from tests on amniotic stem cells. Those cells come from amniotic fluid in the womb and can also be taken from the placenta after birth. The availability may be the best news, along with the fact that the use of these cells would be less politically and ethically charged than embryonic stem cells and they may be more effective than adult stem cells.

So far, the amniotic cells have shown the ability to become bone, muscle and nerve cells. But researchers say they're still many years away from using them in humans.

COLLINS: A big security scare at the Port of Miami Sunday afternoon. In the end, it turned out to be just a language problem that still put security to the test.

CNN's Susan Candiotti with the details now.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three men in an 18-wheeler who tried to enter the Port of Miami threw Homeland Security into high gear on Sunday.

Authorities say a miscommunication over who was inside the truck and what the truck was carrying contributed to the confusion.

Authorities say it all started when a truck driver who didn't speak much English tried to enter the port without the right kind of identification and then later on two other people were discovered to be in the cab.

Two of the men are Iraqi nationals and the third from Lebanon. All three are permanent and legal U.S. residents.

Authorities then checked what was inside the truck. The contents matched the paperwork. The truck was carrying automotive parts. And all is well that ends well. Authorities say security procedures worked.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS: Trains running normally in the nation's capital this morning, that after one car of the green line train went off the tracks under the Washington Convention Center. That happened yesterday afternoon. The derailment injured 20 people, one of them seriously. About 150 riders were on the train. Dozens were evacuated. The derailment under investigation.

COLLINS: The bottom line -- she's a mom who appears to have broken the law. In Ottawa, Ontario, an extradition hearing expected today for Allison Quets. She is accused of kidnapping her 17-month- old twins from their adoptive parents in the States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUETS: I think of their faces. I think of their eyes. I think of how they look at me. I think of how much I know they want me to hold them. And I can't because I'm not there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The FBI says the mother of the twins failed to return them to their adoptive parents in North Carolina on Christmas Eve. She was arrested December 29th in Ottawa.

Amazingly, survivors from an Indonesian ferry accident are still being picked up. A passing cargo ship found 15 more people floating on a life raft more than 300 miles from where the ferry sank nine days ago. But one of them died shortly after being plucked from the sea.

So far, nearly 250 people have been found alive since the accident. About 400 are believed to be missing or dead. Nearly a dozen bodies have been recovered.

HARRIS: The search for a missing passenger plane in Indonesia now rests with a U.S. Navy ship. The USNS Mary Sears is expected to begin helping. The sonar equipment aboard the Mary Sears may be able to better pinpoint the Atom airplane, which disappeared more than a week ago. An Indonesia Navy ship detected what is believed to be a large metal object in the water off the west coast of Sulawesi.

COLLINS: We're going gadget hunting at the Consumer Electronics Show. It's always cool stuff. Live from lasv next in THE NEWSROOM.

And fast forward of the big car show.

But who's being left behind?

Our Ali Velshi is in Detroit.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, well, let's hope my reporting is better than my driving.

I'm here at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and by the looks of it, my bad driving isn't actually the biggest problem in the auto industry right now.

I'll be back with more in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Showgirls just kind of end up being sideshow in lasv this week.

HARRIS: Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

OK.

COLLINS: The real action taking place at the Consumer Electronics Show.

HARRIS: Microsoft's Bill Gates kicks off a geek fest of electronic wonders to expand your virtual universe. Our Renay San Miguel joins us live with more on that -- and, Renay, what is this -- you can help me with a couple of things here. I think I understand HD.

But what is the whole Blu-Ray thing?

I know Heidi knows, but I have no clue here.

RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: HD DVD versus Blu-Ray is going to be the next generation format war. Think of it as Betamax versus VHS 2.0 here.

In this case, it's going to be for the next DVD player you'll buy. Microsoft is supporting HD DVD. Sony and Ethers are supporting Blu-Ray. So the industry is split down the middle. Consumers stuck right in the middle. They're having to spend money on the next expensive product here. You know, there's no one standard. You have to pick one of two standards.

Gates is here to talk about a lot of things, including computers that will be running the new Windows Vista operating system. This is a computer -- that's a full computer right there -- $800, $900. And it's got all the full functions of a P.C. You've got the trackball there to run your mouse, the cursor and all of that.

He's also talking about Xbox 360.

I sat down with him for a one-on-one interview yesterday.

Listen to what he's -- how he's characterizing the Xbox 360. Suddenly it's not just a videogame console, it's a set top box.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, CHAIRMAN, MICROSOFT: In some ways, you can say this is the ultimate convergence device. It lets you display a P.C. screen on -- in your living room. It lets you download movies. It lets you play the best video games. And we're also announcing, for people who are delivering TV over the Internet, like AT&T, which is I.P. TV, that you can use this as a set top box. And so you don't have two separate devices there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAN MIGUEL: Here's the reason why he's calling it a set top box.

Tomorrow, Apple Computer's Steve Jobs opens Macworld. And they're going to be announcing an Apple set top box. So it's a preemptive strike, if you will, at Apple and the maker of the iPod.

Joining us now is Jim Barry with the Consumer Electronics Association.

JIM BARRY, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION: Hi, my man. SAN MIGUEL: That's some of the gamesmanship that goes on here.

BARRY: Yes.

SAN MIGUEL: What do you have for us today?

BARRY: A lot of great stuff for automobiles, too. Here's a great new unit for your dashboard from Eclipse. This is one is a car stereo that also includes a removable GPS from TomTom. So it's one of those combination devices that also -- will play music and combine navigation and entertainment in your car.

It also will play MP3s. You can plug your iPod into that so you can play just about any kind of music, as well as take your GPS with you and find out where you're going. Less than $900, too.

SAN MIGUEL: That's not bad.

BARRY: So that's a very good price.

SAN MIGUEL: That's not bad.

BARRY: Here's another GPS unit from Cobra that combines a radar detector and global positioning satellite. It has a remote control that comes with it. You can put this up behind the mirror in your car and it will also find -- locate for you these red light cameras that are in a lot of cities now.

SAN MIGUEL: Ah.

BARRY: So you'll slow down before you get to those rather than get a ticket. So it's a...

SAN MIGUEL: Only as a safety feature...

BARRY: It's a safety feature, definitely.

SAN MIGUEL: ... not to beat the red light.

BARRY: Well, you definitely want to slow down.

SAN MIGUEL: Got you.

BARRY: We're talking about set top boxes and computers in the living room, this is the Living Room P.C. from Sony, a Vio. It doesn't look like any P.C....

SAN MIGUEL: No, not at all.

BARRY: ... that you would normally see. Also, it comes with a remote that looks a little bit more like a TV remote and a wireless keyboard. So more of us moving this stuff into our living room.

SAN MIGUEL: Exactly.

BARRY: Yes. SAN MIGUEL: All that content from the Internet to your P.C. to your TV.

BARRY: Yes.

SAN MIGUEL: Jim Barry with the Consumer Electronics Association, thanks very much.

BARRY: Thank you.

SAN MIGUEL: And, Heidi, Tony, just day one here. I mean we've got a lot more gadgets...

HARRIS: Man!

SAN MIGUEL: ... a lot more coolness coming over the next couple of days -- back to you.

COLLINS: That's what we like.

HARRIS: More coolness.

COLLINS: Cool.

Renay San Miguel in lasv for us.

Thank you, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: You bet.

COLLINS: There you go, the opening bell on this Monday.

We have the American Heart Association standing there, joined by some of their sponsors, ringing that bell today.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 83 points or so on Friday, so that was kind of a bummer. But still above 12,000, at 12,398.

We'll watch it for you and see how it plays out throughout the day.

(MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: The fight for Iraq and battle over a new direction in the war. President Bush is hammering out details of a new strategy. Sources tell CNN he wants to send in 20,000 more U.S. troops to Baghdad or elsewhere in the region. It's not clear if they would be deployed in a trickle or a flood. President Bush is expected to unveil details of his new plan in a primetime speech, now scheduled for Wednesday. Already Democrats are voicing skepticism. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the president should not expect Congress to issue a blank check on troop increases.

In Colorado, a serious threat after the state got blasted by back--to-back blizzards. An avalanche swept two cars off a major highway in Colorado over the weekend. Eight people were rescued. Surprisingly none had life-threatening injuries, but the experience was terrifying.

Here's more from our affiliate reporter Rhonda Shulty (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVE BOON, AVALANCHE SURVIVOR: It was instantaneous. We saw the poof of powder and it just slammed us.

RHONDA SHULTY, REPORTER (voice-over): For Dave Boon and Gary Martinez, the ride of their life came on a snow-packed Colorado highway.

BOON: We flipped, rolled three or four times, then hit something and started spinning.

SHULTY: The Boon car was one of two caught in a massive avalanche, which pushed the cars off of Berthoud Pass. Dave at the wheel, Gary in the backseat and Dave's wife, June, in the front. They were buried by a 200-foot long wall of snow some 15-foot deep.

GARY MARTINEZ, AVALANCHE SURVIVOR: I was just thinking of my mom and Freddy, my mom's boyfriend, and friends and stuff, and all kind of things I wanted to do in life still.

SHULTY: Hanging upside down, still strapped in their seat belts, Dave, Gary and June were trapped in a car filled with snow.

BOON: As soon as my window blew in when the avalanche hit us, it brought in snow, and then as we were tumbling, I'm not sure if the front windshield was there or not, but there was a lot of snow in the car.

SHULTY: With sheer effort of will, they managed to dig themselves off, able to walk, but still injured but and dazed.

MARTINEZ: His head was, like, dripping with blood, and I didn't know what was really happening until I really got out and looked at the car.

SHULTY: A simple trip to the ski resort that turned into, what may be for many, a life-changing experience.

BOON: I'm really grateful that all of us are alive.

SHULTY: For Dave and Gary, though, it was just another experience to share.

BOON: We going skiing next weekend?

MARTINEZ: Yes.

BOON: we're going skiing next weekend.

Rhonda Shulty, for CNN, in Fort Collins, Colorado. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Fast forward at the big car show. But who's being left behind?

Our Ali Velshi is in Detroit.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Well, let's hope my reporting is better than my driving. I'm here at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. And by the looks of it, my bad driving isn't actually the biggest problem in the auto industry right now.

I'll be back with more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And very quickly now, we want to get you to T.J. Holmes in the NEWSROOM, and T.J. is following a story that is developing for us right now in New York City.

T.J., good morning.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In New York City.

Hey there, Tony.

Kind of a mystery developing right now in New York City, some mysterious odor. This looks like a typical kind of cloudy and gloomy day in New York City there from our tower-cam, but apparently what people are experiencing there is some kind of mysterious odor. Maybe a gas leak is a possibility, and that's what people think they're smelling. Right now, emergency officials are getting hundreds of calls, they say, about this mysterious smell, and it's also covering a fairly wide area here, from midtown to Battery Park City, and that's a fairly large area for a lot of folks to be picking up on this scent.

Now the emergency officials say they are investigating, but they don't have any information right now about whether or not for sure this is a gas leak.

But again, hundreds of people reporting some kind of mysterious odor, possibly a gas leak, but something not smelling too good to them up there, and concerned them enough to give officials a call, and again, reports that hundreds of calls are flooding into the emergency management officials. So they are now investigating. We're trying to get an answer to what is a mystery.

Also no injuries, nothing like that reported, but certainly pervasive of a smell enough for -- and a wide enough area, and concerning folks enough that they are calling in. And again, hundreds of calls coming in. So we're keeping and eye on this, trying to get more information, as well as Con Edison, the emergency management officials and everyone up there trying to get answers right now. So we'll stay on top of this and get back to you guys as soon as we can.

HARRIS: OK, T.J., appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Fast, furious, and if you can, add in fuel efficient. New cars unveiled over the next two weeks at the big auto show in Detroit.

Our Ali Velshi is there looking at what's being left behind in this rush to the future, the American auto worker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There is a lot of excitement at this year's auto show. And there is a lot of concern about the future of the auto industry.

This is the Ford Edge. It was introduced last year by Ford as part of its "Way Forward", the restructuring of the company. Cars like the Edge might be part of Ford's future, but it didn't come soon enough for a lot of Ford workers.

(voice over): It was almost a year ago, to the day, that Ford announced its layoffs. Some 30,000 workers at nine plants across North America. After the early morning announcement at Ford headquarters, I drove to nearby Wixom, Michigan, site of one of the doomed factories. In the parking lot there, I met Darrell Hoffman, a 28-year Ford veteran.

DARRELL HOFFMAN, FMR. FORD WORKER: You got a lot of family here. You know, a lot of friends.

VELSHI: Because of his seniority Darrell was able to keep his job at Ford. Instead, like about 75,000 other Ford and General Motors employees, he took a buyout package, one that gave him health benefits and a pension for life. Ford offered him some money for job retraining. Darrell got his commercial truck driver's license.

(on camera): So this is your past, this is your history.

HOFFMAN: Yeah.

VELSHI: This could be your future?

HOFFMAN: Yeah, absolutely.

VELSHI (voice over): Over nearly three decades Darrell watched Ford, GM and Chrysler lose market share to Japanese carmakers, who could build cheaper cars than the Big Three could. He even did his part to save Ford money by cutting large rags into smaller pieces for his paint shop.

HOFFMAN: I would cut them into strips of five, and I would hand them out like that, and people look at me like, man, what are you doing, you're crazy. VELSHI: But it wasn't enough, and even though his job was spared, for awhile, he decided to leave while he still had a chance to start a new career. Still, a year later he chose to wear the Ford name on his chest over his wife's objections.

HOFFMAN: She told me not to wear it today, but I'm still a part of Ford Motor Company. They are going to pay for us, health benefits, retirement, as long as I live. I respect that.

VELSHI (on camera): So Ford goes into 2007 not just with fewer workers, but it also loses its title as the second biggest American auto seller. Toyota gets that. What Ford does have going for it is this amazing design. This legacy of design in things like the Mustang, but moms don't drive Mustangs. So, somehow Ford has to take that and translate it into its other cars. If it can do that, it might win back a lot of its customers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And still to come, boots on the ground in Iraq, battle lines in Washington.

COLLINS: A skeptical audience awaits President Bush, even before his primetime unveiling. New tactics for Iraq, in the NEWSROOM.

And Americans risking their lives in Iraq, it's not just U.S. troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, well, yes, it's over in Iraq. And I'm like, you want to go drive a truck in Iraq where there's a war going on? Are you kidding me? He goes, oh, I'll be all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Civilians tempted by danger pay, their story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And a developing story out of New York City this morning. The Office of Emergency Management in New York is confirming a pervasive gas odor from midtown to Battery Park City, and from the Hudson River to the East Tiver.

Man, what a wide area that is by the power company there, Con Edison is investigating a story we should be able to move forward for you, with new information on the other side of the break. You are in the NEWSROOM, you're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: I want to get back to this story, coming out of New York in Manhattan, we are hearing there is a pervasive gas odor stretching all the way from Midtown to Battery Park and from the Hudson River to the East River. And as Tony mentioned earlier, that is just a huge area. Our Mary Snow is standing by to tell us more. Mary, we understand that Con Edison is investigating, just a little too early to learn much at this point?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Heidi. Really, quite a mystery. As you mentioned, this is a very wide area, from the East River to the Hudson River, covering from Midtown to Battery Park City. And as you said, Con Ed says it is investigating at this time, but really doesn't have any more information about the cause of this odor.

The Associated Press is reporting that the fire department of New York City first started getting calls around 9:00 a.m., which was about 50 minutes ago, about these fumes. We can tell you we know of at least one office building in midtown, Manhattan, that has been evacuated.

But other than that, there are no reports of where this cause of the odor is coming from, and there is an unconfirmed report, according to the Associated Press, that there is a similar odor across the river from New Jersey.

Obviously, many agencies working on this now. We are working on getting more information to you, but, really, right now, all we can say, is there is this pervasive gas odor covering the large part of Manhattan.

COLLINS: Wow, very strange. And Mary, let me just clarify quickly, you said one office building has been evacuated. That office building is in midtown? Is that what you said?

SNOW: That is in midtown, Manhattan, yes.

COLLINS: OK, all right. We know you'll stay on top of it for us. Thank you. Mary Snow coming to us from Time Warner Center there in New York.

HARRIS: Let's get back to the weather center now and Chad Myers. Chad, can you help us fix the winds on this? This might be a way of getting at the problem here?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The most telling for me is there is an odor in Battery Park. Now, Battery Park is on the very southern, tip of Manhattan.

If you go south of Battery Park or southwest, where the prevailing winds are coming from in order to get an odor in Battery Park or in the Wall Street region here, the winds have to be coming across New Jersey and into the Battery and then on up into Chelsea and also for that matter into the Villages and then up into midtown.

So, this whole wind event, I think, is going to play a bigger part about chasing this odor, probably into the south or to the southwest, probably into parts of New Jersey.

Here's the wind speed here from La Guardia at seven. Notice the arrow -- the arrow actually points to where the wind is coming from. So, if you're seeing wind and you're smelling the odor at the Battery, that odor had to come from either Staten Island or possibly from somewhere farther south in New Jersey. So, I'm sure they're chasing that down as well, especially if there is some odor in New Jersey, there'd be no way the odor would be coming from Long Island, it just couldn't get back to New Jersey, as we see the way it comes in here.

We also had this rain event coming in. I've been trying to check some of the latest weather balloon observations to see if there is what we call a major inversion there that actually would keep any kind of -- if you've ever gone down the (INAUDIBLE) there is there an odor there. There just is as you drive down the parkway, whatever the turnpike.

The whole area there, if this is inversion and the air is just kind of circulating in and just blowing through, this could be absolutely normal, normal smells from basically normal mechanical and industrial operations. We'll have to see.

HARRIS: OK, Chad and I guess just as a footnote to all of this. Mayor Bloomberg is scheduled to hold a briefing, his regularly scheduled briefing for Monday and perhaps he'll be asked a couple of questions about this and we will monitor that situation to see if we can bring you the latest information from the mayor's perspective.

MYERS: I'm on it.

HARRIS: Thanks, man.

COLLINS: American troops, thousands more U.S. dollars, a billion more, both apparently heading to Iraq soon. The president's new war strategy -- early details in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Surge meet surge. Democratic leaders push back against the plan to increase U.S. forces in Baghdad. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Adrift at sea for days, now safe. A rescued sailor talks of the storm that stranded him. Coming up in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Britain's most watched girlfriend and Prince William's main squeeze, now getting more than she bargained for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

She's going out with the future king. She may one day be our future queen. We do have a right to know more about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Public fascination leads to increased security for the girl already being compared to Princess Di. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A story we are watching closely for you here. In New York City, there apparently there is quite an odor in the air, stretching a wide range as well from midtown to Battery Park City, from the Hudson River to the East River, some sort of gas smell is being reported.

According to our Mary Snow there at the Time Warner Center, which is Columbus Circle right on the edge of Central Park, calls started coming in to the Office of Emergency Management around 9:00 a.m., apparently one office building is now evacuated. And according to the Associated Press, a similar odor is also being reported across the river in New Jersey.

So, we are watching this story as we wait for Mayor Michael Bloomberg to hold his weekly press conference that he does at 10:00 or so. He may have some information. We're not sure if he's going to talk about it, but we of course will monitor that. And you can see those shots there looking very rainy and cloudy for sure.

HARRIS: And still to come, southern storms, a tornado rips apart homes and rips up dozens of trees. Parts of suburban Atlanta cleaning up today in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Paper trail. CNN gets rare access to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers at Morehouse College. Civil rights history in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Stem cells, the building bocks of life. A new source might take the political charge out of a medical promise. That story, leter in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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